Tatiana Chistova is a Russian filmmaker, scriptwriter, editor, and Artists at Risk Resident in Helsinki hosted by the Saastamoinen Foundation
Tatiana Chistova has directed a feature television film which is a Ukrainian–Russian co-production, and worked on six full-length documentaries as director, screenwriter, and editor. Her documentaries have been screened internationally and won awards. She has also worked with Finnish production company Oktober OY and Lithuanian production company Uljana Kim Studio.
For five years, she collaborated independently with the State Museum of the History of the Gulag, producing over 100 interviews with victims of political repression; the museum closed in November 2024.
Her films explore memory, conscience, resistance, and human experience in times of conflict. She is currently developing three projects: Khamidu Here and There, following a Malian man’s life in Russia and Mali, Convictions 2, on conscripts seeking alternative civilian service, and Deserters, the story of three orphaned brothers facing military obligations.
Chistova’s work is closely connected to her civic stance. She was detained twice by Russian police after February 24, 2022, during anti-war street protests.
Tatiana Chistova has graduated from Saint Petersburg State University with a Master’s degree in Philology and a specialization in teaching Russian as a foreign language. While studying, she worked as an assistant director at Lenfilm Studio and as 1st AD with Alexey Balabanov (Blind Man’s Bluff) and Alexander Sokurov (Faust). She later studied at the Higher Courses for Screenwriters and Directors in Moscow.
